The new Google Panda updates are offering up new challenges for SEO professionals and for business owners. One of the old rules of SEO was supporting all on-page SEO with excellent link building. As usual, many Internet marketing companies and SEO pros abused links to game the algorithms of Google, BING, and Yahoo. Google rightfully so, decided enough was enough. Links are not the way to achieve top search results any more.

Quality links are still needed but quality content is need even more. Ask yourself how many times you have clicked on a search result only to find that the contents of the site you land on are not what you were looking for in the first place. How did that happen? Links. Thousands of links point to websites with low quality content but have been rewarded for years based on how many links point to the site.

There is a reason why Google is the dominant player in the U.S. search market…they provide the best results and they intend to keep it that way. Below are the top 10 things you need to consider with your SEO efforts.

Content is King [again] – Google, just like visitors, want useful and excellent content. Create great content and your website will be rewarded with “likes”, new links, and social mentions.

Build Links – While Google has downgraded hundreds of website because of poor quality links…you still need to link build. As you proceed with your link building seek quality over quantity.

Drive Quality Traffic – you can gain quality traffic with well written and informational content.

Meta Data – make sure you use your meta data to alert the search engines about page content and provide visitors with a good reasons to visit your site. Meta data is one of the primary communication tools you have at your disposal to provide brief descriptions of the contents of your website.

Get Tools For Sharing – Use social sharing tools like “Share This” to allow visitors to spread your site, content, and message around the Internet.

Keep up Engagement – make sure to continually create unique content which will keep your visitors coming back again and again. If you don’t have a blog associated with your site…get one. If you do have a blog…use it.

Convert Visitors – You may have a ton of traffic but the visitors may not do what you want them to do. If you want new leads or sales provide the types of incentives to get these visitors to convert. Calls to action, discounts, white papers, and unique offerings can dramatically improve conversion rates.

Speak Their Language – The words and content you have developed may be the same language but if you are not speaking in terms your visitors are searching for they will not find you. Make sure you run keyword research [a few times] to find keywords that your target audience are using.

Know Your Audience – Create visitor profiles for the visitors you want to find your website. The better you know you audience the better equipped you will be to speak with them with your on-site content.

Internet Reputation – Pay attention to what others are saying about your company and brand online. As social media continues to dominate the online marketing landscape…user generated content [U.G.C.] will become a major aspect of how your website is ranked and how it gains authority.